


Maverick

by MemphisSmoke



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: My First AO3 Post, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Singing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-13
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:14:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25248229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MemphisSmoke/pseuds/MemphisSmoke
Summary: I've learned many things over the 10 years I've spent in Fodlan. Foreigners are needed but unwelcome. The nobility who preach of maintaining public intrest are horrible liers. The entire society turns a blind eye to the scum that roam the very streets they walk on. Anger bubbles inside me, constantly pushing me towards the goal I set for myself. Yet, every now and then I come up for air and I'm greeted by those who dared to call me family. I may have failed my dad, but I'll kill myself before I ever do the same to my crew. We are all mavericks, I just happened to be the one who was hired to be a professor.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 2





	1. Business as usual

**Business as usual  
Imperial year 1180  
**As a mercenary, I learned two things very quickly. 1: Any job can be your last. 2: Building a routine is critical. As the second in command and designated instructor of this band of mercenaries, my routine had to constantly change, but I was nothing if not an adaptor. Remire had thankfully, gone without a hitch and we were ready to head off to the kingdom.

‘Oh right, the kingdom.’ The truth is, I hate the kingdom. The country never did anything wrong to me, but I knew plenty of good people who got fucked over the years by those pompous knights. I didn't like the empire any better, they did the same thing. Act as a shining beacon on the surface, yet turn a blind eye to the scum lurking beneath their gilded crest.

I decided to cut off that train of thought and lift myself out of the bed. The room was mostly clean with the exception of my hatchet, survival knife, and karambit knife. Keeping the room clean was the least I could do for the innkeeper who offered it to me for free. I grabbed my overcoat, stuffed my mask into one of the inner pockets, armored up, picked up my weapons, whispered a quiet thank you as it was really early, and headed outside. Once I stepped out of the inn, I was greeted by a surprising sight. Everyone in the group was already up and had packed up.

‘Did I oversleep? That never happens.’ My thought was cut off by my captain placing a hand on my shoulder.

“Before you ask, I told Dakota not to wake you up. You’ve been up later than usual and I thought you could use the extra sleep.”

Captain Jeralt. The man acted more like a father to this group than simply its leader, but that’s why we loved him. “I appreciate it, captain but you know I hate to oversleep.”

“And I hate seeing you with bags under your eyes. Seriously Memphis, when was the last time you went to bed at a reasonable time? If this side job of yours is keeping you up that much then maybe you need to reconsider doing it.”

The captain's voice was stern but I didn't flinch. When you work with the same man for 8 years, his ‘scare' tactics lose effectiveness. I knew he was just looking out for me, deep down I really appreciated it, but I just shook my head. “It's not a job captain, it's a goal, a life goal. That's not something you just reconsider on the fly. I've been doing it for years and it hasn't been a problem,” I knew Jeralt didn't like my answer, the look he gave me was proof enough of that, but I also knew he couldn't fight me on that point.

“Just remember rule 1.”

“I'm no good to you dead. I got it, Jeralt.” He nodded before handing me an apple and ruffling my hair.

“I still don't understand how you call this red hair, it looks brown” I had heard that comment from him and the others. Every time, I had the same answer.

“My father told me that I'm a natural red-head, my color isn't as exaggerated as some others, hence why it appears like a light brown from a distance. How many times do I have to tell you, Jeralt?” I shook off his hand but didn't bother to fix my short hair. I preferred it messy.

“Dakota should be waiting for you with Dorte, you know better than to keep your horse waiting.”

“That I do,” I ran off toward the caravan to meet up with Dakota. Dakota Helsinki, I call him Dak for short, reliable, strong, and always there for me. Unfortunately, he had a tendency to ignore his own safety to protect his sister, Maya Helsinki. While Dak was a sword toting mercenary through and through, Maya was a scout specialist and a damn good sniper as well. She also was adept at trap magic, which made her the ‘trickster' of the group. It was rather ironic, for all the protecting he tries to do, Maya and I have had to save Dakotas' sorry ass more than he's saved ours. We still loved him though.

“Hey, Memphis,” speak of the raven haired devil, he was already kited up in his mercenary outfit.

“Dak, you got my horse ready?”

He laughed slightly at my admittedly dumb question. “Yeah, Dorte is good to go. He could use a shoe change but we can do that after we-  
 _Tweeeeeeet  
_

Our conversation came to a halt as a whistle sounded in the distance.

_Tweeeeeeet  
_

I knew it was Maya giving us a signal.

_Tweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet_

Three whistles, our signal for approaching bandits. “Dak, take Dorte. I'm heading for the tower.” Dak nodded as I clapped my hands to get the attention of everyone else. “You all heard the whistle, we've got bandits incoming! Take up arms and get set in defensive positions, go!” Every man and women armed themselves with haste as I reached for my mask. I stared at the menacing face painted onto the cloth before smirking, pulling the strings over my ears and placing the mask over my face.  
‘Time to go to work.’


	2. First Blood

**First blood**   
I directed half of the group towards the woods to the left of the watchtower, while Dak took the other half towards the eastern woods. Despite the short notice and intensity of the situation, nobody seemed nervous. They were all mentally prepared for action, I didn't even need to give verbal orders, just pointing was enough to direct them. No one could see through the mask, but I was smiling as we all set out. I muttered a quiet prayer to the spirit of fire for my crew to survive. Dak took Dorte and I was about to head out to the tower when I was forcibly turned around by Jeralt. I was about to question why he was stopping me, but the three teenagers behind him caused me to pause.

“They're the ones the bandits were chasing. They're with us until we deal with the threat.”

I gave all three a quick look over. The first was a boy with a yellow cape and a bow. I also noticed that he shared my skin tone. The second was a female who was shorter than me with white hair, she also carried an iron axe. The final one was another boy who had a mop of blonde hair and carried a lance. I quickly walked up to them and gave them the business.

“Listen very carefully, you follow my instructions and you'll be able to see the sun this morning. Whoever I assign you to, you will stick close to them and follow their instructions as if they are my own, have I made myself clear?”

They all nodded. I pointed to the bowman then quickly pointed to the watchtower. He didn't seem to get the message. “Bowman, there’s a sniper in the tower, her name is Maya, tell her Memphis sent you, go,” he then took off. I passed the axe user and pointed at the lance man “You, stick with the Captain,” I turned to Jeralt, “Captain, you're on the left flank, go!”

“Come on kid, you're with me,” Jeralt stated as the blonde started running to keep up with him. That left me and the axe user. Her lilac eyes were distinctive but I had no time to think of a title.

“I have no idea what to call an axe user, so just tell me your name.”

“Edelgard”

“I'm gonna call you El for now, that okay?” her face was of pure shock when I asked that. I wasn't exactly sure why she was so hesitant to answer but she did eventually spit it out.

“T-that will do”

“Okay, you're with me. Let’s go!” We took off toward the right flank of the tower into the woods. Dak seemed surprised to see me as I crouched behind a bush while El took cover behind a tree.

“I thought you were gonna join my sister, and who's the girl?”

“She's running from those scumbags, she's gonna help us clear them out. There were two others with her, I had one take my place in the tower. Besides, Maya can handle her own shit, unlike you, Dak,” that got a laugh out of him as he pulled out a bow before handing it to me. The bandits came charging along the main road, making them easy pickings. I kept my voice down for my next message, “Okay Mavericks, let's butcher these bastards, we've got a job to do right after and I don't want anyone dying here, got it?” they all gave a nod as I gave the signal to set up. I docked an arrow and fired. It found a resting place in the neck of the closest scumbag. His blood didn't even hit ground before he found himself dead from an arrow to the head. My whole crew then converged on the group while I set the bow down to draw my red survival knife. El was just watching which got on my nerve, “The hell are you doing just standing there?! Go, I'm right behind you!” she took off, axe in hand. I wasn't far behind her as the Captain brought his half into the fray. The blood of scum littered the ground while the crew remained basically untouched. One by one fell to my blade, each one possessed a look of pure fear as I cut them open. I'd never admit it, but I enjoyed those looks. El was doing surprisingly well, she shattered an enemy’s' weapon before she split his head open. Dak rode Dorte around purging scum like it was the most fun he'd had all week. Arrows kept finding their marks as the savage thieves fell to the dirt in crumpled heaps of pain and misery. Soon, there were only a few left. One of the bandits, wielding an axe, started to charge. It took me only a second to realize he was charging El, who had seemingly lost her axe and had pulled out a small dagger to defend herself. I quickly pulled out my hatchet and chucked it at the charging bandit. My throw found the target as the charger fell, dead from a blade to the skull.

“They got the captain, run for it!” one of the bandits screamed before running for his pitiful life. The others followed suit. Dak looked ready to chase them but I waved him off before walking up to Edelgard, who had regained herself. I pulled my hatchet out of the bandits' skull before approaching El.

“What the fuck were you thinking?!” I half screamed. She looked like a deer in hunter sights. 

“I lost my axe in the fight, my dagger was all I had, and a bandit was charging me down” she tried to explain. I was still fuming.

“That doesn't explain why you fucking froze! Your feet weren't set in a blocking or dodging stance, and you made no effort to get out of the way. You're lucky I bailed you out because if he gets a swing off, at best you'd land on your back with a gash across your chest and at worst you would've had your head split open!” I was suddenly pulled away by Dak who looked disappointed. 

“Memphis, get a hold of yourself. She's not one of us, you didn't train her, she's still a kid. She made a mistake but that's what we were here for, so cut her some slack.” He pushed me back toward Edelgard, he then mounted Dorte and headed back toward the convoy. I took a deep breath, trying to think of what to say. El looked completely composed which opened up my options.

“Look, I don't expect you to be a combat expert and that was a high stress situation, but you can't freeze like that because it might not be you who dies because of it next time. I'm sorry for being harsh but don't ever let that happen again, you understand me young lady?” 

To my surprise, she remained totally in control. She nodded knowingly. “I completely understand. I will strive to be better in the future.”

“Good, now I believe you and your friends are safe now. You should regroup with them.” I began to walk away when I noticed Jeralt talking with another man. As I approached, the captain quickly turned to me and shook his head. That made me raise an eyebrow until he finally spoke.

“Memphis, go for a walk… and take the mask off, the fight's over.”

‘He hasn't told me to take a walk for years… what are you doing Jeralt?’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well this took way too long. I had to restart this chapter 3 times so here's hoping this one is okay.

**Author's Note:**

> Well, here's hopping I don't lose the drive to write this story. Things will get really dark and bloody later and I'll add tags as I go. For the record, MEMPHIS IS NOT BYLETH! He's Byleth's replacement but he doesn't have the same abilities or lack of personality as Byleth and he isn't Jeralts' son. He is wearing the same outfit though with a different hair color and his hair is shorter. With all that said, I hope I've at least grabbed your attention.  
> Be sure to let me know about any typos so I can fix them quickly. I'm still toying with the formatting so hopefully it's not too bad.


End file.
